Labeling machines often have a glue roller that spreads hot glue on labels. The glue roller typically has a knurled surface with indentations. Eventually, these indentations will fill with an amalgam of dried glue and label fragments. As a result, it is important to regularly clean these indentations.
A difficulty that arises is that because of the glue's viscosity, it is only practical to move the roller for cleaning when it is very hot. Otherwise, the viscosity of any glue left on the roller will resist movement. This means that cleaning takes place while the roller is hot.
Known cleaning methods are manual. Since the cleaning takes place at high temperature, there is a significant danger of burns. Not surprisingly, maintenance personnel are reluctant to carry out this task. As a result, cleaning is often postponed until labeling performance has degenerated to the point of being intolerable.
Another disadvantage during manual cleaning of the glue roller by means of mechanical aids, such as, for example, brushes, blades, needles, etc., is that the surface of the glue roller may incur damage.
In addition, the task of manually cleaning glue rollers is time-consuming. This results in lengthy machine shutdown times, which increase cost.